Team Epic
by Ramaxy18-chan
Summary: "Go Epic!" Silence. "That's…That's a Magikarp…" "So? His name is Epic." "HAHAHAHA! That's the best joke I ever heard! You're hilarious girl!" Just so you know, I hate it when people laugh at me or any of my pokemon. My name is Ariann Roman and this is my epic journey. OC fic. First pokemon fic.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I stared at my mother and father with a scowl as I clutched the pokeball in my hand. They were glaring daggers at me, their brows turned down in anger

"What did you say…?!" My father ask me with a hiss that will put an ekans to shame. I glowered at him, not backing down, and he seemed a little surprised by my resistance. I usually don't get into trouble, so they only see me as a submissive growlithe at his master's command. But that was over.

"I told you that I want to become a pokemon Trainer," I repeated myself, while trying to sound a little confident in myself. I was doing a pretty good job at it.

"B-But why? You-you have such a great future with your grades! You are very intelligent, sweety!" That was my mom. "And where did you get a pokemon?!"

* * *

Four months ago

A blonde twelve-years-old girl walked down the path of Sandgem Town's Supermarket looking boredly at the weather. It was raining slightly, and the sun was fighting off the clouds, trying to come out without any accomplishment from its part. The blonde girl sighed and changed the bags full of food to her other hand. It was starting to get annoying carrying these bags. Ever since her Big Brother left on his own adventure around Sinnoh, she was the one that had to buy all the groceries when her parents were out.

"Watch out!" The girls clear-brown eyes widened as a man knocked into her and she stumbled not-so-gracefully to the ground. Her eyes narrowed dangerously as he fidgeted, clearly nervous. Then, without much of a warning his eyes locked with hers as he made the most unusual request, "G-Girl, look. I-I need you to do me a-a big favor, o-okay?" The blonde girl stared at him, analyzing him. Her round eyes brimming with innocence and intelligence. Taking her time (while time was the only thing that he didn't have) she opened her mouth slowly only to be cut off. "Please, some people are after me! I-I just want you to save him!"

The girl blinked at the man confused. She asked, "Who?"

He fished a pokeball out of his bag and pressed it into her palm with shaking hands. She gazed at it as if wondering whether to give it back or to keep it. With a start she recalled that her parents didn't want her to have any pokemon. With an anxious shake of her head she made to give the man his pokeball back but he was already sprinting ahead of her. She stood up to follow him but sudden gunshots stopped her in her tracks. She froze on the spot, silence filled the road of the peaceful town as the sun finally came out from behind the rainclouds. She looked down at the pokeball.

Should she keep it, or just give it to the police?

The blonde sighed yet again, while minimizing the metallic ball and pocketing it in a single motion. Be grudgingly, she continued on her way towards the house, deciding to not involve herself in other's business.

Later she realized that she was stuck with a magikarp,(and it just HAD to be a magikarp) one that wasn't owned by any trainer and that the police refused to keep. Her parents wouldn't like that. That much was obvious. But, what if she trained it? They say training is fun, right?

...She could try it out...

One week later the same girl lay on her bed, contemplating the possibilities of becoming a pokemon trainer. She has been thinking for the past week ever since obtaining the Fish Pokemon. It was weak, she knew that, but she believed that one day it would evolve into an EPIC gyarados. And she had some pokemons in mind that would make an epic team. The only problem were her parents. They wouldn't want her to become a pokemon trainer like her brother had… but maybe they'll accept her choice? Could they accept her choice?

And so Ariann Roman spent the last four months of her normal life wondering if she could tell her parents that she wanted to become a pokemon trainer and it was a magikarp. Just in case she decided to spend those four months learning about pokemon and trying to train her magikarp a little. Which didn't go very well… at all.

_"Epic, use tackle on that starly!" The magikarp stared at his master in confusion and the starly tackled him before he could react. Ariann let out a panicked command, saying, "Do something!" To her utterly displeasure, her magikarp splashed and was knocked out. And that was her first battle._

But she was sure that they could overcome their weaknesses… if they tried hard enough.

She sighed as her magikarp was knocked out again by a starly. She kicked the bird in frustration and went back to her house to wait for Epic's recovery.

Yes, they'll have to try _very_ hard.

* * *

"I found him. He's now mine," I told her, staring at her in indifference. I wasn't going to back down. If it came to it, I will run from my house and start my journey myself. With or without their support.

"Ariann, you know you don't want this," my father told me seriously. I glared at him sharply.

"I have waited months for this to happen, and now that is finally my birthday, you won't grant me my sole wish? You won't let me go?" I told him icily. I knew I hit a spot when I saw him flinch. Now was my chance, "Dad, you know I love you guys, and Big Brother too, but I want to travel and have an epic team and, well, live." Dad never went traveling because he was always scared of the aggressive world we live in, so he works as a cop, where he can fight off crime, and though all of them have pokemon, I have never in my life seen my father's partner. "Please," I used my final resource. I never plead, and my parents knew that. Maybe I could change their mind…

Father let out a defeated sigh and I let a wisp of a smile touch my lips. I was happy, but I knew it would come to this when I used the right words.

"Okay, you can go," he told me and I hugged his resigned form tightly in thanks. Finally, I will be a trainer.

The moment my parents signed for my trainer ID at the pokemon Center at Sandgem town, I took off on my own journey. Ready to meet new people and pokemon alike.

I was ready to find my Epic Team.

I smiled slightly as I reminisced and rolled Epic's pokeball around in my hand(I forgot to properly introduce him to my family. I made a mental note to do so when we met later. Hopefully, years later).My course would take me north, away from my house in Sandgem town and towards route 202. I have never been on route 202 before so I was looking at the grass and trees and paths in curiosity, never forgetting to keep an eye out for any potentially epic pokemon that I could add to my soon-to-be-Epic Team. Instead I found a few other pokemon, which I avoided, since Epic was probably stronger than them. That is until I found myself at a trainer's mercy.

"Hey! I challenge you to a Pokemon battle!" I heard him shout at me. I studied him. He seemed to be more experienced than I was and was surely more experienced than most of the pokemon around…

"Sure," I told him, since I needed some experience battling more people instead wild pokemon. I remember that somewhere read that battles against trainers were different than battles against wild pokemons, so hopefully that wasn't true. He grinned at me and took out a chimchar. I threw Epic's pokeball, while shouting, "Go Epic!" After Epic was out (and flailing, or bouncing or whatever he does), I heard the boy snicker.

"You called your magikarp Epic? That's hilarious!" I glared at him. How dare he mock my pokemon?! And not only my pokemon, but my naming sense too! Now I see why trainers get so heated up while battling other trainers…

"They evolve into gyarados, you know!" I shouted at him, trying to show some confidence and some experience (which I obviously didn't have). He just smiled and told me instead, "Let's start now, hm?" I narrowed my eyes at him before turning towards Epic.

"Listen up Epic, today we're going to have our first official pokemon battle. Let's do our best, okay?" I told him seriously. After all, my first pokemon battle may decide whether our journey will be easy or simply a pain in the butt. And it will also decide whether training for three months on the same route was good or just for nothing.

I stood up and yelled.

"Epic, use Tackle!" The only problem was that my magikarp was too slow compared with the fire pokemon. The chimchar dodged the charge that my magikarp made and scratched him instead.

"Chim, use scratch again!" The chimchar went running towards Epic and I took that opportunity to shout an order at him.

"Epic use Tackle!"My pokemon complied and gave the chimchar a powerful tackle before it could lay a claw on him. "Good Epic, now use Tackle again!"

"Chim, use ember!" I froze as I saw my pokemon almost get torched by the ember the chimchar used. If Epic hadn't jumped at the right time…suddenly an idea popped in my head. We had used the combo only one time successfully, so maybe we can pull out another trick…

"Epic, come here!" Epic looked at me in confusion and then started to jump towards me. My opponent ordered his pokemon to attack before Epic could reach me though. Just as I expected.

"Epic turn!"

"Chim, use ember!" The chimchar ran towards us and I waited for the right timing. As the chimchar opened his mouth to let out the famous ember attack, I shouted,

"Epic, use Splash then Tackle!" I saw Epic make a big jump, and fall a step behind the chimchar, missing the ember completely. Then before it could react, Epic tackled it to the ground. It groaned but made to stand up again and before I could command anything, Epic tackled it to the ground again. This repeated itself two more times before I heard the trainer say…

"Okay, I forfeit. Call back your Magikarp." I stared incredulously at the trainer. Then I smiled, looking back at Epic and running towards him in happiness. We have won our first pokemon battle!

"Wow, Epic! That was so…so…so epic!" My magikarp just smiled(how he did that?I don't know) at me happily, constantly making 'karp, karp' noises. "I'm so proud!" Okay, I usually don't hug people(unless is my Big brother, my mom used to tease me saying that I have a brother complex. Which I don't) or pokemon for the matter, but I just couldn't stop myself! I hugged Epic and, before I could praise him again, the other trainer interrupted me.

"Nice battle," he told me smiling. I returned Epic reluctantly and nodded at him. "You have a good strategy there. Very nice. How many badges do you have?" he asked truly interested. I hesitated. Okay, I didn't have any badges, but he could steal from me if I said I had no experience being a trainer… "I assure you I am not gonna steal anything. I'm not a thief. See? I have my own three badges," he told me, laughing a little at my hesitation. Then he showed me his three badges: Oreburg's, Eterna's and Veilstone's.

"Wow, you have so many..." I couldn't help but be awed by the three little badges this stranger had. One day, I'll have all eight of them.

"Yeah, yeah, can't pass Wake though," he told me smiling sheepishly. "So, now I'm training my team with a new addition." I guessed he was talking about his chimchar.

"Well…I don't have any badges. I'm a newbie," I told him sincerely, while secretly hoping that he was telling the truth. If not, I could always kick him where my Father told me that always hurt the most.

"Damn, then you're good! And your magikarp, Epic was it?" at my nod, he continued, "That fish is strong!"

"Yeah, well, I have to go. I want to get to Jubilife before it gets dark," I told him starting to walk the road towards Jubilife city. If I can get there before dark, then I may be able to get to Oreburgh in three days and get my first gym badge! Well, I will still need to train, but it shall be fine. I heard footsteps behind and soon I found that the trainer was walking with me.

"Why are you following me?" I asked him, looking back at him. He just smiled. He seemed to be one of those good guys that always hurt the girl the worst in the movies. This guy was dangerous…

"Well, you knocked out Chim so I guess I have to go to the Pokemon Center." I looked at him in suspicion while putting my hand in my shorts, where Epic's pokeball was. If he really was a thief, then he was getting nowhere near my Epic. He noticed this and put his hands up defensively. "I'm serious!"

"Yeah, well, I don't know you," I told him bluntly. He looked crestfallen at my words. I sighed irritated and made some thinking. Being with an experienced three-badged trainer may give me some advantage. I could watch and perhaps learn some of his battle strategies.

"Okay, okay. We can travel together," I told him, and then as an afterthought added, "But our priority is Oreburgh."

"Oreburgh?"

"I don't plan on staying too much time on a city that doesn't have a Gym Leader," I told him referring to Jubilife City. He seemed to understand me; after all, he was a trainer. Maybe when he was going to get his first badge he was thinking the same thing.

"Well, I'm Rick, nice to meet ya," the boy, Rick, told me with a fox-like grin. I noticed now that he had clear brown eyes (just like mine) and dark brown-hair, unlike my own long blonde one. He was small, like my own height, for a boy.

"My name is Ariann Roman. I hope we can be comrades." I noticed now that he had clear brown eyes just like mine as well as dark brown-hair, quite unlike my own long blonde tresses. He was small for a boy, about the same height as me.

It was a luxio.

**Beta'ed by Rosezelene Ersa.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A wild luxio leaped at us and snarled, it's fur crackling with electricity. I instantly leaped back, out of the way and took out Epic's pokeball. Then I hesitated. What if something happened to Epic? What if Epic…died?

"Lux!"

I looked at the Luxio as it charged towards me, ready to bite. I quickly moved into a position to give it a hard kick. Before it could reach me a pretty gray bird tackled it. Thankfully it changed targets, forgetting me for a moment. I let out a sigh of relief. I could've died. Now I know why my parents didn't want be to go on my journey.

"Are you okay Ariann?" I heard Rick call to me while giving orders to his staravia to fight. I nodded at him, though I doubted he was paying any attention at me at the moment. "Damn, that luxio is strong. Send out Epic, I bet he can protect you." He told me. I nodded and hesitantly send out Epic. After all, I have never been in a life or death situation and even if I did survive, there was still the chance that my starter will die. He jumped and then stared at me. He seemed to be a little confused that he wasn't battling an opponent at the moment. I took a deep breath and told him,

"Look Epic, that luxio over there is trying to kill me and Rick. I don't want you to get hurt badly, so just protect us if necessary." I winced as the luxio knocked out Rick's Staravia with a Spark attack. Shinx in this area didn't know electric attacks, but this luxio seemed to know a few of them. I heard Rick curse as he returned his bird and took out a great ball. I saw the luxio about to leap at him and called out a warning but the luxio too fast. It lunged forward and bit his arm. The great ball fell to the floor as he tried to pry luxio from his arm.

"Epic, use Splash and then Tackle!" I shrieked at my magikarp. Yes, I was scared, and I was losing my cool rapidly. What if Rick died? What if his pokemon died? What if Epic died?

What if I died?!

Epic attacked the luxio. It staggered, letting go of Rick, and snarling a 'lux' at Epic. It growled, its tail lashing behind angrily before it leaped at Epic, trying to bite him.

" Splash!" Epic splashed, but the luxio was clever and waited for the right time to use a spark on my pokemon. I screamed out "tackle!" when I saw the luxio charge up with electricity, but I already knew my magikarp wouldn't be able to do anything except take the hit. I knew he was going to get KO-ed the moment I saw the move coming. After Epic fainted, the luxio bit at him ferociously, drawing blood from my pokemon. If I didn't stop it, it will surely kill and then eat my magikarp. I wasn't going to let that happen.

"Stop!" I ran towards my Pokemon, ready to fight the luxio myself. Before the luxio could do something more than snarl at me I kicked the electric pokemon on the head. It must've been either a really powerful kick or maybe the luxio was really hurt, because it landed on the ground unconscious. I went towards Epic and saw that he had some places eaten up or mainly chewed on. I returned him hastily, feeling tears sting in my eyes, and stood up to go. Epic has never been so wound up in a battle. I-I wonder what I should do…Maybe…Maybe if I get to Jubilife in time I could save him….but for now, his pokeball should be the safest place for him to be.

"Are you okay?" I heard Rick ask, snapping me from my thoughts. Right, Rick was injured too. I nodded.

"I am. B-But Epic! He-he was shocked and bitten and chewed and-" I cut myself off, wiping the tears from my eyes. I didn't even notice when I started crying. Not that I cared. I only needed to take Epic to the Center. I needed to save him. I looked back at Rick and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Just a little bite, though I'll have to check and see if it is infected." I nodded at him and started to walk away. After all, Epic was dying (for all I knew) and I was just a sitting psyduck. I needed to start moving. Then I noticed that Rick wasn't following. "Rick? You need to go to the Center too." I was just being kind, because he could stay for all I cared and I will leave either with or without him.

"Aren't you…aren't you gonna catch it?" he asked me, looking at the unconscious luxio. I stared at nothing as my mind gears started to move. I could use a strong Electric type pokemon…and luxios were kind of epic too! But…that attitude…It just attacked out of nowhere. It could be fixed, but it'll be troublesome. Well, it will be worth a try. If it tried another thing, I will just have to kick him again until it understood who was in charge.

"I think I will-"I cut myself off as I remembered a _very_ important fact. I didn't have any pokeballs. I mentally jumped over a cliff. Stupid, Idiot, Blonde! How could I forget the pokeballs?! I sighed dejectedly, accepting the fact that I wouldn't be able to catch a luxio today. "I think I'll give it to you. It will be useful against Crasher Wake," I lied to him, while mourning the lost (once again) of a potential epic teammate. Rick looked surprised at first, but then smiled widely.

"Seriously?! Thanks! I'll repay you in any way I can!" he told me, while I just nodded. He took out a great ball, one I didn't have, and caught the passed out pokemon. "Now, what to name it…"

"I'll wait for you at the Center," I muttered while starting to run towards Jubilife City.

"Right," he said seriously as he ran besides me. We ran towards Jubilife city, avoiding all battles on route 202. And that was the first time(and I hoped last too) that I made a record time to get from route 202 to Jubilife city. I mean, I only took 10 minutes! The doors to the Center opened, and I immediately ran towards the counter where a Nurse Joy was waiting.

"Please! C-Can you save him?" I pleaded (once again in the same day and only because this was an emergency) while panting from my mad sprint from route 202 to the Center. I didn't even wait to see if Rick was running with me or not, but now I noticed that he wasn't in the Center with me.

She smiled at me and said a "Sure". She took Epic's pokeball and I was left waiting in the lobby.I hoped with all my heart that my Fish pokemon was fine. After all, we've been together for almost four months! Four months of hiding him from my parents and training him in secret. Four months to change my opinion about being a pokemon trainer. That was all it took. Four months, and I was now losing my precious starter.

Maybe I should've stayed home after all…

Minutes later, Rick came in, gasping for air, leaning into the counter.

"What took you so long?" I asked while twirling a blonde strand of my hair in anxiousness. Epic was still being treated and I didn't know of his condition, but a though was still nagging at my mind. If I haven't left…

"How…did you…get here…so fast?!" he demanded between pants while giving his pokeballs to the other nurse in the counter. I stared at him as if it was obvious.

"My pokemon was dying."

"I know! But-you know what, forget it," he told me, pouting and sitting beside me. I continued to play anxiously with my hair.

"Are you…okay?" Rick asked me, looking as if he was approaching a hissing glameow. Which I wasn't. I was totally fine. Just a little worried about Epic, but aside from that I was super fine. I knew he will be fine, so I was fine. As long as he was fine, I'm fine. Totally fine.

"Ariann Roman?"

I stoop up lightning fast and walked stiffly towards the Center's Counter.

So maybe I wasn't totally fine.

I saw Nurse Joy with a single pokeball in her hand, the smile in her face was a relief to see.

"Your magikarp is fine. He has a few pieces cut off from him, but they'll grow back." She crooned, and I let a smile adorn my face. Epic was alive! He was okay… I felt like I could tear up any second now… "You better watch out with whom you battle though, okay?" I nodded.

"A wild luxio attacked us," I told her.

"Oh, that explains it all. Luxios are very rare in these parts of Sinnoh. What happened to it? Don't tell me you…" before she could even make the implication, I shook my head hastily. No. No way in hell I will kill another pokemon. Not after almost loosing Epic. Or so I thought.

"It was caught by my…friend." The word tasted weird in my mouth. Sure, we were partners, but were we really friends? Speaking of the Devil…"Oh! His arm was bitten by the wild luxio!" I told her while motioning Rick to come with my hand. He came with a frown on his face, but then Joy took his arm and inspected it.

"Well, it isn't deep, so it will heal quickly. I will have to give you some medicine in case of infection though…" With that they both left me with my dear pokemon. I let out my magikarp and observed him. He would be the same splashing fish as always if it weren't for the missing scales and pieces of his fins…

I fell to my knees in front of him and scooped him into my arms. He stood still while looking at me.

"karp? Karp karp!" he cried while rubbing his body against my chest in affection. I petted him, letting some of my tears fall on him. If he hadn't come with me, he would be fine now. If he hadn't come with me, he would've probably be swimming in my bathtub or in the river. If it weren't for me…

"Maybe if I release you…you will be happier…Do you want to be free?"I asked him, ignoring the pain in my chest and my analytical part of me that was screaming at me for being such a sentimental skitty. And I knew I was being stupid. I mean, who would release their starter? Their first and (in my case) only pokemon? I just wanted him to know that I won't force him to do anything he didn't want to. It was practically my fault for leaving home anyway. I felt tears in my eyes yet again(maybe the tears I didn't cry for my parents were coming out now) as I watched him wriggle from my grasp and land on the floor, splashing away from me.

I guess Epic didn't want me as his trainer after all.

**Beta'ed by Rosezelene Ersa**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I bit back a sob as I watched Epic splash away from me, feeling utterly rejected. My brother always used to tell me that I was a sentimental crybaby, but I didn't believe him. Now, I could see that my strong façade was failing and I wouldn't be able to hold it in much longer. I wanted to stay strong for him, to reassure him that I was strong, that I would be fine without him (_even though I knew I probably wouldn't_) . He splashed a few feet away from me, and then turned back to face me. I saw him use a big splash in form of an arc towards me, it surprised me. But what surprised me more was the sharp turn he made to give me a hard tail-slap across my face. The sheer strength of it made me turn my face to the side. And damn, it hurt. But I didn't dare to do anything. I stood there frozen, while my face felt hot (from the hit or embarrassment, I didn't know) and I felt something sliding down my side of my face but I ignored it, until Epic faced me again. This time, he was looking at me firmly.

_'Magi, Magikarp!'_ I stared at him in surprise. If he was looking at me with such determination and annoyance then that meant…

"You want to stay with me…?" I asked, silently hoping that my intelligence wouldn't fail me in my guess. Epic nodded and jumped towards me, rubbing his scales against my chest. I hugged him tight (not too tight because he was injured) and whispered to him only, "I'm sorry all this had to happen Epic. I'm sorry I was so stupid. I'm sorry that I might have offended you… I won't release you, okay? Even if you plead me for life, I won't!" I was kidding. If he wanted to be released, even if it pained me, I wouldn't cut the freedom of my own pokemon. Now that I think about pokemon… "Epic, how about we catch a new teammate?"

_'karp!' _

"Well, we can check tomorrow. Not now, since you're injured and all. Where had I read that water-type pokemon heal better in water? I don't know, but we can experiment," I told him, planning already to get him on the bathtub of the pokemon Center for the night. I hugged him one more time and whispered at him, "I'm glad you didn't leave me…" I returned my magikarp to its pokeball and went to the counter (after cleaning my face a little) and made a reception of one night on the pokemon center.

"You want the free rooms or Giga-ones?" I stared at her, since I didn't know what the hell 'Giga' means. She seemed to notice my stare and laughed sheepishly, "oh! Sorry, you're a beginner I guess. Free rooms are the ones that we give for the trainers to sleep. The Giga ones you have to pay, but it's so big that you can fit an onix there!" I nodded. Well, it made sense. There usually were teams that were so big that they wouldn't fit on a normal room…

"I'll take the free one." After I received my key, I made my way towards my new (temporal) room. Though, before I could go to my room, I spotted a very familiar dark-brown haired teen… and he was…crying?!

"What happened?" I immediately asked. What if one of his pokemon had died (I doubt that though.)? I know that somewhere I read that losing a pokemon can end a trainer's career; because the guilt simply can destroy them. But even worse, what if he just knows that he caught a disease and he is dying? I waited for my friend to come o me, he was shaking so madly…

"Needles," he told me, rubbing his arm with a wince. I quickly understood , sighing quietly in relief. Rick was just scared of needles. That explained it all. I saw him look at me with a frown, as if he has finally noticed me, and asked,

"What the heck happened to your face?"I frowned and went to check my face in one of the glass doors of the Center. True to his words (and my earlier suspicions), my cheek was red, and there were some little cuts and blood on my cheek. I seriously didn't know that Epic's tail fins were _that_ sharp… I turned back towards Rick and told him bluntly,

"My pokemon bitch-slapped me with his tail-fin for being such a worry seed." Rick laughed at that, and soon enough, I found myself smiling slightly. Yes, now that I realize it, it was hilarious. Later, I bid him goodbye (since his pokemons were still healing) and went to my room. It was small, but welcoming nevertheless. I couldn't help but think of how many trainers had stayed in this same room, maybe days ago. Or even hours.

I put my bag on the floor beside my bed and went to take a shower. Then I realized that apart from forgetting the pokeballs, I also forgot my pajamas. I had to put on some shorts and a white plain sleeveless shirt. I then released Epic and offered the bathtub for him to sleep, which he took without complains. So I had to fill the tub for him to sleep on.

After putting Epic on the Bathtub, I fell on my bed, thinking. I had come to Jubilife in just one day. That was an accomplishment, right? I, at least, expect to be on Oreburgh in three days, maybe four. I sighed and closed my eyes. Soon, I fell asleep from my tired yet exciting day.

* * *

I felt something wet touch my face. I groaned, but didn't stand up. Then, it registered to me that I was alone and that _what the hell was touching me?!_ I opened my eyes hastily only to be squashed by something that knocked the wind out of me. I winced in pain, groaning and looking at the thing that was thrown in my way. I met red…

I think I almost died of a panic attack that day.

Epic was just inches away from my face, looking at me with his weird eyes and doing something even weirder with his whiskers. He seemed unbothered by my almost-panic-attack. Stupid fish, scared the hell out of me.

I got him off of me, and sat up. I sighed and rubbed the sleep off my eyes. I decided that, yes, I should stood up and go change. So that's what I did. I left the white sleeveless shirt, but changed the short to some baggy pants. I returned Epic and grabbed my bag to leave the room. To my surprise, it was very early. It was around six or seven in the morning. I still had to eat and the Center didn't give breakfast until eight. And I was hungry because I didn't eat anything yesterday. Epic hasn't eaten either. And I wasn't going to wait until eight for hospital food (because that's what it tasted like). Maybe I should go to a Café…

"Let's wake up Rick then…" I muttered to myself, walking towards the room next door, which was Rick's. Casualties or Destiny? Probably the first one. Now in front of Rick's door, I wondered if I should wake him up or not… I shrugged, deciding that yes, if I woke up this early, then he had to wake up early too. I knocked on his door, waiting for his response. After a few seconds, I heard a faint groan from his side of the door, followed by a shriek. I wondered, amused, what happened in there. Then I heard a 'click' and the door opened. I had to resist the urge to laugh in his face.

Rick was wearing this sleepy face one always has when woken up. His hair was all messed up, ruffled and filled with feathers and small things as his staravia made a nest out of his head. He also had scratch under his left eye, though it wasn't bleeding. I supposed it was mostly superficial.

"You look hilarious," I told him with a small smile. He stared at me with a deadpan face and asked rather annoyed,

"What do you want?" I raised a brow amused at his attitude. It seems like Rick wasn't a morning person.

"I want to go eat so that we can buy some supplies. I plan to leave today, you know," I told him. His eyes widened as if he just remembered that our goal was Oreburgh.

"You plan to go now?!"

"After eating and buying some supplies." I nodded. Though, my priority was to buy pokeballs. I needed them in case of finding another possible pokemon that could be part of my team. Rick sighed and muttered a 'wait a minute'. One minute turned into ten and when he came out, he was the same person I met at route 202.

"Let's go," I told him while he nodded and out we went.

We got to a very cheap Café at Jubilife city and bought ourselves and our pokemons some food. I ordered some berries for Epic since that's what I have been feeding him since we met, and I ordered myself an omelet. Rick said that his team ate yesterday and that they didn't need to eat until later. After we ate, we went to the Pokemon Mart of Jubilife city.

"You will need some Hiker Boots," Rick told me, holding a pair of black boots in his hands. I stared at them and then at him, asking the obvious.

"Why?" He rolled his eyes, irritated. Maybe Rick really wasn't a morning person. I'm just glad that he just didn't snap at me.

"You just passed the easiest and shortest route of all Sinnoh. We will be going to Route 203 now, which is pretty long. Also, there's a cave that connects Jubilife and Oreburgh. It's a long way to go. So believe me, you want these," he finished, shoving the boots at me. I nodded and took them after his explanation. What he said was, after all, true. Maybe I was too cocky by just passing the first route in only one day…

"What else do you think you'll be needing?" he asked me, looking around the store for something that may catch his eye.

"Pokeballs," I answered bluntly. I was in desperate need of pokeballs. The small things were, after all, the reason why I only had one pokemon instead of two. What if I missed the chance of catching another possible epic teammate?! I must have made a face when I said it, because Rick burst out laughing.

"You don't have pokeballs? Well, that's new. Newbies tend to have lots of them just to catch every pokemon that they come across with." He chuckled and then he froze, a look of understanding crossing his face. I frowned at him, and he just narrowed his clear brown eyes at my own. "Why didn't you tell me that you didn't have pokeballs? I could've given you one of mines and you could've caught the luxio." I winced and looked away.

"I-It's not like I wanted a luxio…" I lied. Because I really could use an addition to my team. And luxios were good battlers and all. "And besides, you needed him more that I did." At least _that_ was true.

"Her." I blinked.

" 'Her'?" I repeated confused. Rick grinned at me. He seemed to have forgotten the pokeballs' deal for a moment. Thanks Arceus…

"it's a She, the luxio," he told me. I understood quickly and nodded at him. He seemed very happy with his new pokemon. "She's my very first girl!" I winced at that. The only girl… If Rick didn't catch another girl on his team, it will become a harem. Without doubts.

I went to the counter and paid for the boots, and some pokeballs (Two counts as some right?). After I paid my things, Rick bought some potions (and gave three to me) and out we went.

"Ariann." I looked back at Rick as he called my name. We were outside the Mart and were walking towards the entrance of route 203. "I want to give you something." He stretched both his hands, where I could see four minimized pokeballs. They were all different. But from what I could recognize, I saw an Ultra ball. The other three, I didn't know.

"These are a gift of my gratitude from giving me Grace," he told me. I suppose he was talking about the luxio, Grace. I didn't want to accept these pokeballs as gifts but hey, I only had two (without counting Epic's) and having four more (one of them an_Ultra ball)_ would be sweet. "This one," he said pointing at the green pokeball with black dot-things on it, "is a Dusk ball. I think I found it on a Route, but I assure you it still works. Well, from what the guy at the Mart of Veilstone's city told me, it's very useful to catch pokemons when it's dark or at caves." I nodded and took the small pokeball in my hand. Rick continued, "This one is a Luxury ball. It helps to make pokemon friendly. Or so it says…" he muttered, giving me a pretty looking black pokeball with gold and red lines. He then touched another pokeball, this one was the only one left (besides the Ultra ball). It was pale pink and had a pale blue around the button and on the sides. "This is a heal ball. This one I had to buy. They're pretty cheap though. They work as normal pokeballs, but if you catch an injured pokemon with it, it will heal it."I nodded once again. These pokeballs were pretty useful. I could use them without complains. Rick then grabbed the Ultra ball, looking at me with stern eyes. "You use this one on a pokemon you are _perfectly sure _that you can handle, okay?" he told me seriously. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I wasn't a baby. I may be a newbie, but nothing bad will happen to me. Sure, there were some pokemons that killed their trainers, but that was, what, 1 in 100,000? I don't know, I just know that it didn't happen a lot. I nodded at him nevertheless. He gave me the last pokeball and I pocketed them at my bag. After that, Rick grinned excited and grabbed my hand.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" I could help but be a little excited as well. We ran towards where the gates of Jubilife city connected with Route 203.

Off to Route 203 we went.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I hate Route 203.

Every time I saw a budew I had to either return Epic or give it a hard kick (which painted me as a monster to some of the trainers on this route). At least at route 202, the shinx didn't know any electric type moves. But these little plant pokemon _did_ know grass type moves. And because of the type advantage, they targeted Epic and me. We were victims here! I have only been in this route for two days and I was starting to hate it.

Traveling on routes was just as the books described it. You had to sleep on the floor (I had a sleeping bag, so did Rick), search for food (I ate berries with Epic) and you didn't have where to go to the bathroom or anything. But still, it wasn't that hard… at least it wasn't raining.

Still, I hated Route 203.

For the I-lost-the-count time, I had to help Epic in a pokemon battle against a wild pokemon.

"Get this!" I kicked the budew to tomorrow, not caring for the possible trainers that could be watching me. They probably thought I was a fucking monster. Which I wasn't. I was just caring, of my own pokemon anyways. Well, at least Rick was doing _way_ better than me.

Chim, his chimchar, will just burn the little pests with an ember and they will scatter like bugs (even though they were plants).

I sighed as I picked up Epic and used a potion on him to heal his wounds. This was seriously getting really frustrating. My magikarp seemed to notice my frustration and tilted its head.

"_Karp?"_

"It's fine Epic. You did great. It's just that plants aren't good," I told him reassuringly. I let him go again and tried to keep an eye out on him so that he didn't go too far off.

"Ariann! There's a kricketune there!" Shouted Rick pointing at the red and black bug type pokemon. But I shook my head, because I didn't _want_ any bug type pokemons.

"I don't like bugs," I told him, deciding to voice out my thoughts in the matter.

"Why not?"

"They're nasty," I lied. That was for me to know and for him to find out.

After I looked around, I saw that Epic has ventured to one of the desolated parts of the route. _Once again._ I sighed and went after him. For a fish out of the water, he was very fast. I saw him about to jump away so I ran and grabbed him by his tail fin, yanking him back.

_"Karp! Karp! Karp! Magikarp!"_

"Just what do you think you're doing running off like that?" I asked him with narrowed eyes. Epic looked at me and went to my side to rub his body against my leg. I felt my eye twitch in irritation, because I knew that he was trying to coax me not to scold him. Even though it never worked for him, he always tried. "You run off like that again and I'll kick you like I did with the plants-" I cut myself off, as I heard a distant yelp. I started to look around, searching for the source of the noise. To my surprise, it was a defenseless woman (with some sort of bags) being attacked by a Man with two bidoofs. I wasn't about to leave a defenseless woman alone, so I went quietly around the bushes , trying to think of a strategy to take the man by surprise. As I was nearing the man, Rick shouted my name, alerting the man and the woman of my presence. I turned to glare at him (_Traitor! In what side are you in?!_) and walked to stand nearer to the woman. The man was frozen in place, apparently he didn't expect any company, but then he sneered at me. Simply glared at him while studying him.

The man wasn't tall or small, wasn't built or scrawny, handsome or ugly, he was just…plain. In every way you looked at him. He was one of those people that you pass on the streets and tend to forget about them.

"What are you doing?" I asked him angry at him, he just smirked at me. Well, that proved that he was a bad guy. The man took out another pokeball and I saw a mark on his hand. Wait, it wasn't a mark, it was a tattoo.

SZ

"I am here to take the pokemons in the care of the breeder because she isn't raising them right." I glared at him, because it was obvious that he was lying. But then, he continued, "She is going to damage this world! Those creatures she breed are monsters!" I looked back at the woman. She was in her mid thirties and had dark hair that was put on a bun and forest green eyes. She was looking at me pleadingly, shouting,

"He's lying! He wanted to break all the pokemon eggs I am carrying!" Now that she says it, I noticed the weird bags that were behind her. They had Pokemon eggs in them. There were at least three eggs in there…

"Those monsters you breed will destroy the world!" The man shouted, throwing the pokeball in the air and calling forth a zubat. It gave a shriek and I saw Epic move in front of me, glaring at the zubat. I saw the bidoofs engage in a battle with Rick's Star, the staravia, and Chim, the chimchar.

"You are not making any sense! We have been living with pokemon for ages! Even _you_ have pokemon! Why would they damage our world?! I admit that sometimes they go out of control, but it happens!"

"How can you trust them?! Tch, they plan to take this world all for themselves! They will kill us, humans, and harm us in every way they can!" He shouted, angry that the woman kept on saying things that it seems like he didn't want to listen. While they kept shouting at each other, I wandered off to my own thoughts. What if pokemon _did _want to kill the humans? Did they want to destroy us? Just to be free? Maybe just so that we don't keep killing them instead? But that couldn't be. Wouldn't then, all the big pokemons like the onix that lived peacefully at their caves or the pokemons that lived at the sea attack, society? That can't be true. Epic still stayed with me, _even though I told him that he could leave_. It wasn't true. I trusted the pokemons. I trusted Epic, because he trusted me.

Just then, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was small and white…or was it green?

Then I saw it clearly.

It was a ralts.

The psychic was watching the events from afar, not too close to get involved or too far not to see or hear. As if sensing my gaze, it turned towards me. Then it teleported. That's the case about psychics. Just seeing one was difficult enough, if not extremely rare, but catching one (especially abras and ralts) was very difficult.

"Ariann! Help the woman!" I didn't have to be told twice. I ran towards the woman with Epic in tow. But of course, life didn't go as planned.

As I neared the woman, I saw the man's zubat take flight, its wings sharpening as it charged a Wing Attack. Then it went flying towards the eggs, and I froze. The man has just ordered his pokemon to end another's life. And, knowing how fragile pokemon eggs were, they wouldn't stand a chance against a powerful Wing Attack.

They will surely break.

The zubat closed the distance between it and the eggs, but before it could attack them, the woman stood up, taking the blow instead. The zubat went back to its master side while the woman fell to the ground with a pained groan. I quickly ordered my own pokemon to attack before the man could.

"Epic, use Splash then Tackle!" That should keep them busy at the very least. I went to the woman' side as quickly as my legs could carry me, and I immediately saw the damage done. Her back had a nasty gash from where the zubat had slashed at her with its wing, and the blood was coming out freely. If we were lucky, it wouldn't be a serious injury. I helped her to a kneeling position in front of her eggs, while trying not to jolt her too much. I really didn't want to have her more injured, or pained, than how she was right now. "You'll be okay…" I said to her soothingly (or as soothingly as I could manage) while looking around for the battle. Rick was finished with the two bidoofs and was now calling the police while stealing glances at the situation. Epic was, sadly, fighting a losing battle. Each time he prepared to tackle the zubat to the ground, it will fly higher, away from my Fish Pokemon. I could see that it was starting to irritate him, but at least he was unscratched. The woman at my side froze and I followed her gaze, locking my eyes with the barrel of a gun. I flinched a little, but refused (stupid pride will kill me someday) to look away from the man's eyes, glaring at him. I slowly stood up, giving no move toshow submission. The man didn't notice me standing up, because he was obviously looking at the more experienced trainer, Rick, and giving him a glare.

"Take back your pokemons and don't interferre or I'll kill her," the man threatened, while Rick froze on his spot, looking over at me with horror. I really didn't understand why he was so horrified, after all, this happened all the times in movies. Rick eventually (and stupidly if you ask me) returned his pokemon and the man smirked to himself in approval. Obviously, he forgot about me. I, with my epic observation skills, noticed that the man has retreated his finger from the trigger for a moment, and a moment was all I needed. My dad and my brother always used to tell me that, while my mother told me to scream and run, a man's weak spot was in between the legs, to hit there if I was ever attacked by a man.

And hit is what I did.

I drew my leg back and kicked him as hard as I could in his manhood. He gasped and groaned and fell to the floor, whining or hissing and cursing in pain. I quickly took the gun in my hands, and stared at it. I was about to point it at him, but then I remembered that _Thanks dad, you never told me how to wield a gun, even though you're a cop._ I decided to throw the thing away from us, making us at least a little safer. I glared down at the man as he glared at me, standing up and taking a few steps back.

"You-You bitch…" I heard him curse, as he pulled something familiar out of the pocket of his coat. I couldn't help but curse my luck in my head.

Great, the bastard had _two_ guns. Perfect.

The man glared at me, pointing his new gun yet again at me. Looking at Rick, just in case he decided to move or try something fishy. I glared at him, because the coward was fighting unfairly. I took a step back and put myself in front of the woman, just in case he decided to target the breeder again. The gash on her back was still bleeding, but thankfully not a lot. Maybe it wasn't as serious as it seemed…

"You know, I wasn't ordered to kill any trainers today… You know why? Because they still can reconsider which side they're in." I frowned at his words. What did he mean by _today?_ Had he killed already? What orders? "But you know, pokemons are on the list," he said while smirking and turning his gun towards where my pokemon was still fighting. I froze as I realized just how _stupid_ I was. Epic was in danger and I could do nothing…wait, I could do something. I had at least three options:

Option number one: I will try to return Epic, but then by the time I get the pokeball out of my pockets, Epic would've been shot already. And I wasn't going to take this plan full of flaws…

Option number two: I could run towards Epic and leave the woman without cover. Then, she will get shot by the man and killed, but Epic will be save…No, this one doesn't sound good either.

Option number three: I could simply charge at him, kick him in the balls again and in his pained state, he will pull the trigger and shot Epic, or me, or the woman.

Hmmmmm…

I shall go with number three then. With some minor changes of course.

"Epic, use Splash!" While my pokemon used his move, grabbing the attention of both the zubat and the man, I took out the pokeball and yelled, "Return!" A light went out of my pokeball, sucking my magikarp in it. I sighed in relief, because now my pokemon was safe… I looked back up at the man, and saw him smirking. I looked at him warily, I didn't like that smirk…

"I knew you'll return it," he said with confidence. So what if he knew that I would return Epic? At least he was safe. The man's smirked turned into a frown when he noticed my lack of reaction. "You don't seem surprised. Why is that?" I shrugged.

"You just supposed a logical reaction to the situation. Every trainer in my rightful position would've returned their pokemon. It's just common knowledge, so I don't see why you're so proud," I told him sincerely, but that only seemed to piss him off. I wonder why…

"Tch, brat… now Zubat, use Wing Attack on the eggs!" I felt dread cling to me as I saw the bat's wing sharpen as it flew towards us. As it was nearing I tried to stand, but my feet stayed in place. I couldn't do anything due to fear. I don't know how, but a miracle happened. Just before the bat could get any closer to us, the bat was enveloped in a pinkish hue, sending it crashing in the direction contrary to its trajectory.

I was quick to recognize the attack as a Confusion attack.

I looked around, searching for the source of the Confusion, and I found that in front of me was the little ralts of earlier. It was covering us up, using its Confusion attacks to protect us. Maybe I could catch it… I took out a random pokeball and waited for an opening. Don't misunderstand me, I appreciated being saved and all, but I wasn't going to lose this chance.

The man, I could see, took out a pokeball too. It seems like he wanted to catch the little ralts too. Too much for his '_Pokemon destroying the world'_ motto.

"Zubat, switch targets, use supersonic on the ralts!" The ralts used another confusion to protect itself (the timing was wrong if you ask me) and the zubat quickly dodged. Then it used a Tackle,, knocking the ralts off it feet. It lay just inches away from me. Talking about an opportunity. I was about to take this _heavenly_ chance, but the man threw his pokeball, and (to my surprise) another pokemon came out. It was a catlike yellow thing with weird line eyes.

It was a psychic pokemon, the abra.

"Psychic pokemon are so pathetically weak…" Before he could say another thing, I threw my pokeball (it turned out to be the Heal ball that Rick gifted me) at the ralts, absorbing it in a flash of light. The man gave me a look that clearly said '_Are you serious?'_, but I ignored it. When I looked down, I realized that the Heal ball had stopped moving. Which meant only one thing…

I had captured my first pokemon. My second epic pokemon that will turn out to be an epic gardevoir.

I felt myself grin as I picked up the Heal ball from the ground, not quite believing that I had captured a psychic for me. I had another teammate!

I heard a click and my happiness was forced to an end.

"Y'know…you're starting to piss the fuck outta me."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I glared up and was about to retort when I heard Rick call,

"Star, use Quick Attack!" While the man was pointing his gun at me, he forgot about my dear friend. Finally someone comes to my rescue! Rick, you are the best. Rick's staravia used a Quick Attack on the gun (luckily the man didn't fire it) knocking it out of the man's grasp. I took that opportunity and tried to kick the man (maybe I'll become a ninja in the future), but he jumped backwards, avoiding my epic kick.

"Zubat, use Wing Attack—"

"Freeze!" At last! The police was here! This was the slowest rescue I ever seen in my live! "This is the police! Stop where you are!" The man cursed one last time and he looked at his abra. A second later, they both disappeared. I sighed tiredly; at last, the danger was gone… Then something grabbed me by my shoulders, shaking me.

"Are you okay? Sorry I took so long! Are you injured? Is your pokemon injured? By the way, I saw you catch a ralts, good job. But, is it okay? Are _you_ okay? I know—"

"Rick, shut up. I'm fine. Epic is fine. The ralts is fine too," I told him irritated at all his questions. Then I remembered someone that was injured… "More importantly…" I turned towards the woman to see an officer tending her injuries. I sighed until another officer came towards us with a frown on his face.

"Are both of you okay?"Rick and I nodded. He nodded back and walked back to the other officer, taking out his cell phone to call the Center I suppose. Maybe they didn't have any psychics with them…

My eyes widened and I looked at the heal ball still in my hand. I took out Epic's pokeball for him to meet his new teammate while releasing the ralts from its Heal ball. I then released Epic, who jumped towards me and rubbed his body against my legs in affection (a habit he has developed). I kneeled beside my two pokemons and petted Epic while studying the ralts before me.

It was small, smaller than Epic, and had a green-hat thingy on its head with a reed horn in it. The rest of its body was of a dull white color. I didn't notice I was staring until it started to shift uncomfortably.

"Um, well, Hello. My name is Ariann and I'm going to be your trainer from now on," I told it. It tilted its head towards the side and I didn't know what to think of its reaction. I mean, Epic was really easy to read! Maybe it was because I was newly acquaintance with this pokemon…Yup, that must be it. Because of that thought, I decided to let pass that reaction (I refuse to say 'ignore' because I didn't. I did gave ti some thought, after all.). "Now, how to name you…hmmm… how about…'Pretty'?" I think it must've understood me, because I let out a small growl-like _'Ral…'_ and shook its head. Maybe it just underestimated its beauty. "What about…Cute? Small? White?" All of those earned a growl, so they were discarded. I knew my names were starting to irritate my new pokemon because it was starting to chat with Epic, often pointing at me with its small hands and then at himself. I seriously didn't know what to do. "What about me? You keep pointing at me and then at yourself." Epic came to my side and added,

"_Karp!Karp!"_ I stared at him with a deadpan face. I was good at reading him, but this was… too much.

"You're not helping, Epic."

"_Ral,"_ I looked down at the small psychic. It pointed at me and then at itself, and then it shook its head.

"You…don't want to come with me?" I asked it. I wasn't feeling that bad about losing this pokemon (_Waaaaaaaa! I even used one of Rick's pokeballs! It isn't fair! Why?!_) but it still hurt.

"Ariann, what is wrong with the ralts?" I looked up at my brown-haired friend and then at my ralts. It looked at Rick and then started to jump and point towards Rick, nodding.

"You want to go with _him?!_" I yelled at it. There was no way in hell that I was going to lose _two_ pokemons to Rick. No uh, not happening. I shall first release it in the wild, so Rick will have to, at least, waste time and pokeballs in catching it again. The ralts facepalmed comically and shook its head. Its movements got me out of my evil thoughts; I looked at it in curiosity and asked,

"Do you want to go with me?" It shrugged, so I took that as a yes. I nodded to myself, really, really happy that I was going to keep my pokemon (even though I _didn't_ have to give it to Rick or release it before. I was just being nice. I shall never ask that question to my future pokemon. They shall cope with me and I with them.). My ralts smiled slightly.

"_Ral, Ralts._" I looked at it and it pointed at itself and then at Epic, _"Ral."_ And then it pointed at Rick. "_Ralts."_ It nodded. Then it pointed at the three of them , "_Ral,"_ and then it pointed at me and shook its head. "_Ral, Ral, Ral."_

"So, you mean that you three have something in common that I don't?" The ralts nodded and I started to think until something clicked. I was only giving girly names, since the ralts was small and girl-like. And, well, Rick, Epic and apparently the ralts were all…

"You're male!" The ralts sighed and nodded its head. He must be thinking that I probably wasn't worth its time. Well, at least now I knew what to look for… I sighed and petted his head, he looked up at me expectantly and instantly I knew that he was waiting for me to give him a name… though I couldn't think of any right now…

"How about 'Handsome'?" I ignored Rick's comment. My ralts frowned at the name, but kept quiet. I instantly knew what to call him.

"Noble," I told him. He looked at me and tilted his head. "That's your name. Noble. It means you have honor, you're respectful and kind and all the good stuff." Noble looked at me with admiration, his eyes shining in respect. I raised a brow but said nothing. Then came Epic and started to make weird noises. "Epic, meet Noble. He's our new teammate. Noble this is Epic. He's my starter and my only pokemon apart from you." My magikarp stared at Noble in curiosity for a few seconds before splashing. I didn't know what to take that action for. Let's just guess (and hope) that he's really happy.

"Trainers, may we see your license?" asked one of the policemen. Rick and I gave our IDs and the man inspected them. He nodded to himself and told us, "The woman wants to see you." I nodded in thanks and started to walk towards where the woman was being tended for her injuries. I returned Epic and Noble before we reached her. The woman smiled at me and I found myself smiling back at her in return. Right, I had saved her pokemon eggs…she must be really grateful…

"Thank you for everything! You're a very good person, both of you." I immediately noticed that she was usually one of those cheerful people. "Listen, I usually don't do this. But I want you to have one of the eggs," she told me. I felt my eyes widened and my head shaking a 'no' before I could keep myself. An egg will be good and all, but you had to take care of them. And I wasn't good taking care of fragile things. "Don't worry. You don't have to carry it for a long period of time. Most of the eggs are just a day or two from hatching!" I knew that this was a once in a lifetime chance: to receive a free pokemon egg from a breeder. But…somehow, I felt like this wouldn't work.

"Come on Ariann, I know that you can take care of an egg for a day or two. I'll help you out!" I turned to see Rick smiling at me. Right…I wasn't alone. Rick was here. And he's experienced.

"Okay…" I told the woman. "I'll make sure to take good care of it!" She smiled and opened the bags taking out five pokemon eggs. Now that I think about it…How the hell did she carry all her pokemon eggs here?!

There were two sky blue eggs(one with clouds and one without them) , a fiery red one, a beige one with spider-like patterns(which I immediately discarded) and lastly, a brown one with a fissure pattern.

I don't need water or flying type pokemons (Epic will evolve into a gyarados after all), the bug-type was just _not a choice_, that left me with two pokemon eggs…

"Choose the red one. It will help you out with Gardenia." I glared at Rick as he said those words. _I_ was supposed to choose the egg, not him. He was trying to cloud my judgment! I frowned back at the two eggs and decided which one I will choose.

I ended up choosing the brown one (much to the woman's amusement and Rick's disappointment). As I was picking it up to put it in my arms (like a baby), it moved. I let out a scream and almost dropped the egg, Rick quickly caught it before it fell out of my arms. We both sighed in relief. I glanced at the woman in hesitance, but she just waved me off.

"They often make noises and movements when they're about to hatch." I held back the urge to glare at her for not telling me sooner, but opted by giving her a sarcastic "Thanks." She laughed it off and then, Rick and I continued on our journey towards Oreburgh City.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I was starting to grow tired of carrying an egg. Rick even offered to carry it while I battled Trainers or wild pokemons.

Which brings me to another point.

Apart from Confusion and Teleport, my ralts didn't have any other effective attack. I know, he was still small and new, but I can't help but be a little disappointed.

Now I had two-pretty-much-useless-to-be-epic-when-evolved pokemon. _Nice_.

I sighed as Epic beated another bidoof. Noble was resting in his healball after being knocked out by a budew (stupid little plants. Terminating me even after gaining a new pokemon…). Maybe we should take a rest…

"Rick, can we take a break?" I asked him. He just shrugged, and I took that as a 'yes'. We went to sit by the shade of a nearby tree near a small pond. I released my other pokemon as Epic was already out and following me.

"Noble, Epic, we're going to take a break, so don't do anything stupid. And don't get out of my sight, okay?" They both nodded. I sighed and leaned back, putting my egg on my lap while Epic entered the pond and Noble watched him swim in fascination. I gazed at the egg, wondering _when_ was it going to hatch. I'll just have to wait…

Rick was staring intently at the Great ball in his hand while petting Star, the staravia, that was perched on his head.

"Why don't you take her out?" I asked him, snapping him out of whatever thought he was having at the moment. He smiled at me sheepishly and scratched a little his head, earning a peck from his pokemon.

"The truth is…That I may be a _little_ scared…" I deadpanned at him. Rick, you're such a scaredy mewoth.

"You have three badges…"

"Yeah."

"And you're scared."

"You know, badges aren't won with bravery," he told me frowning while I rolled my eyes. He just didn't want to admit that he was a coward. I put my egg besides me and stood up. I walked towards him and was about to reach him, but his staravia made to bite off my fingers. I retrieved my hands quickly, giving the bird a glare. _Stupid bird._ I heard Rick whisper at his staravia loudly,

"Don't try anything, Star. She took out a luxio on her own."

"That is how gossip starts," I told him with a roll of my eyes. He was exaggerating. The luxio was already hurt. He just laughed me off and his pokemon looked at me with new eyes. Give me a break! I looked at Grace's(the luxio) Great ball in determination and snatched it out of Rick's hands in an instant. I hastily threw the pokeball to the ground, and the luxio appeared. I heard Rick groan my name, but I paid him no mind. The luxio sniffed the air and looked around in curiosity.

Then it noticed us and froze.

To my surprise (and Rick's), the female luxio got to the hinge of her legs, crouching low in a submissive manner. Too much for a ferocious luxio…

I approached her with cautiousness, after all you never know when a pokemon (especially one that is not yours) will pounce at you. I petted her slowly, ready to retrieve my hand if the situation called for it. After all, she bit Epic and Rick, she will no doubt have no problems in tasting me either. Though I_ did_ have a problem with her biting me.

She purred under my touch. I smiled a little, all the while mourning yet again the lost of a good pokemon, and glanced back at Rick. He was gaping at me.

"Well, call her," I told him. Rick cleared his throat and tried.

"G-Grace?" he called hesitantly. The luxio paid him no mind, so I stopped petting her. She looked at me pleadingly, but I just returned to my place in the shade of the tree. I put my egg again in my lap and prepared to watch the show. "Grace," he called to her again, much firmer this time. The electric-type pokemon gave him a look of boredom. "I'm your trainer." The luxio's eyes widened comically before looking between me and Rick, demanding for an explanation. I chuckled at the way she looked at us, she looked like she has been lied to all her life.

"It's the truth." She looked at me and then at Rick. She stood up and walked towards his side warily.

"Good girl, Grace," Rick said while petting her when she reached his side, earning a glare and a hiss from the only girl on his team. I laughed openly at him and he gave me a glare. "Not fair! How come Grace likes you more than me, even though I was the one that caught her?!" I smirked at him and told him what I thought was his problem.

"Maybe you aren't the dominating type of person."

"HUH?!"

Soon, he was full of scratched of his starter Star and bites of his girl, Grace. The only two that were acting accordingly were Chim, the chimchar, and Be, the bibarel. Said pokemon were playing at the pond with my own pokemon.

Looking down at my egg, and ignoring the commotion, I wondered what pokemon would come out of it…maybe a ground-type pokemon…or maybe even a rock-type one. I just hoped that it wasn't a geodude…they were just too…I don't know...annoying!

Our one hour break turned into a five hours one, and when we were already in front of the cave, it was already night time.

"We can either camp outside or inside of the cave," I heard Rick said, even though I wasn't paying him much attention, as I was looking at the dark cave that was just a few steps away from us. The gate that connected both Jubilife and Oreburgh…

"But we can continue while it's still dark, right?" I asked him. I mean, inside the cave will still be dark right? It won't make a difference.

"It's dangerous to travel at night," said Rick with a frown. "I've heard that some trainers get ambushed while—"

"Like they can't ambush us while we sleep." I deadpanned at him. He blushed and cleared his throat.

"A-Anyways, Dark is bad," he looked at me seriously. I rolled my eyes; maybe traveling with a gutless guy like Rick was a bad idea after all. "Plus, we won't be able to see anything!"

"I doubt we'll be able to see anything in the cave while it's day-time Rick," I muttered but then a idea came to my mind, making me smirk. "Or is it that you're afraid of the dark?"

"I'm not scared of the dark!"

"Prove it," I told him bluntly.

"Okay, Fine! You win!" I smirked and Rick looked to the side while muttering something that I couldn't quite hear. But it really couldn't bother me anyways.

Because we will reach Oreburgh by tomorrow. And hopefully, I'll obtain my first gym badge.

**AN:**

**Eh, i would like to thank all those that had read my story so far! i really am! apart from that, i would like to hear any opinions, or errors by my part. im sorry fro updating so late, but hope you enjoyed. **


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

We managed to get to Oreburgh City the day after we entered, at night. Why? Well, because _someone_ decided to explore a _little_ too far inside the cave…

And then, we got lost.

And getting _lost, _in a _cave_ was not fun. We had to starve to death! Well, not really starve but near enough. Thankfully, I had some berries with me, so we didn't die (all hail the berries!). Anyways, we just got out of the cave because of Grace. She sniffed us out towards the exit.

I tried to catch a graveler. Let's don't talk about failures right now. The only important thing is that we got out of there alive. Skipping my failures, hey! Chim evolved into a monferno! I was _so _glad! (I'm being sarcastic. I'm so envious that Rick's pokemon evolved faster than mine…)

Apart from that, I almost died! Well, died of fright. You know, in that cave (that is made for BEGINNERS) there aren't supposed to be any ghost-type pokemons… _Supposedly. _When Rick and I entered, there was a hoard of ghost-type pokemons. Some of them stayed away from us, but the others (like a certain hunter that took a liking to scare the hell out of me every five minutes or so) liked to torment us.

I may add that I was afraid of _any_ ghost related thing. They were just so…unexplainable! I hated ghosts. Ever since my brother brought one house one winter…Or was that a dream? Whatever. Ghosts are bad.

Back to the main theme, after spending almost one week at route 203, I finally got to Oreburgh City. I was finally able to take on my first Gym Challenge!...But first, I need a shower. And some sleep(stupid ghosts). So, first thing on my list: Get a room at the Center and rest.

/line/

I woke up groggily, looking dazedly at the walls of my temporal room. Epic (I think) was on the bathtub, Noble was on a small cushion at the end of the bed, the egg was broken on the floor…

Wait…

I did a double check and looked at the floor, where (surely) I saw the broken brown shell of the pokemon egg. My eyes widened in horror, because_ fucking hell, I broke a pokemon egg! I swear I didn't mean to! I'm sorry!_ I didn't know what to do. I was trying to think of something, _anything_, to do in this kind of situation. Does this mean…that the pokemon is…dead? I felt hollow at the thought, frozen at the idea until I saw some movement from the corner of my eye…

There, at the floor besides my bed, was a small brown thing trying to get some of the sheets. It had black beady eyes and an orange-y brown body. I moved towards the edge of the bed to inspect it better. And that's when I saw its mouth. It had big jaws that seemed to have no problem in biting flesh and tearing things apart. I think that most of its head was made by just its jaws!

The pokemon seemed to notice my stare and tilted its head to the side.

"_Tra?"_

Now I remember! This is a really rare pokemon in Sinnoh! And to find one on these parts of the region…I really am lucky!

I had a trapinch!

I quickly got out of bed and neared its side(it looked really small), petting its head.

"Hello boy…or girl…or whatever you are…" It was supposed to be a greeting, obviously it didn't sound like one. I started out cooing and ended out bitter. I guess I just don't stick to the lines. The trapinch opened its little jaws(I think they were bigger than my hand, and it was still a baby!) and made to bite me. I took my hand out of the way and gave it a glare. "Come on, I'm not that bad," I told it. When I tried to pet it again, it made to bite me once again. Little… "Look," I told it in a tone that meant business(I lost my patience, and I'm very patient often), "if you're going to continue to snap at me, I'll bite your legs until you can't walk, got that?" It was obviously an empty threat. I mean, how would I bite my pokemons legs?! Well, luckily my trapinch didn't know that. Thankfully, I have a very good poker face, so I can easily make up lies. So what if I rot in hell afterwards? At least I'm not killing people.

My trapinch looked away. I tried petting it again; it allowed it for a few seconds before marching away.

I have to name it and capture it…But what to name it, exactly? I sighed in irritation before walking towards the bathroom. I saw Epic sleeping soundlessly in the bathtub, so maybe I'll have to wait some time before taking a shower. Maybe after getting my badge. I nodded to myself, suddenly filled with determination. I mean, I will get my badge today! Anyone in my position will be happy! (Or maybe excited) I finished brushing my teeth and changing my clothes, I put a sleeveless yellow shirt with some shorts(that were _very_ short. I'll have to buy more clothes…), and went out. What I found, I have to admit, was a little unnerving.

"Noble! Stop using Confusion on the baby!" Noble looked at me before looking back at the floating trapinch, that by the way, seemed to be having fun floating in the air. Then, it looked back at me and tilted its head to the side.

'_Ralts?'_

It was then that it struck me that maybe my pokemon didn't recognize the baby as the egg.

"Noble, that's the egg! Stop it!" My trapinch dropped to the floor instantly, and I allowed myself to sigh in relief. My baby pokemon was safe…for now. I glanced back at Noble, only to find him looking at the floor in shame. I sighed again and got the hair out of my eyes, maybe telling Epic before-hand that the egg hatched will avoid another attack towards the little trapinch. I walked over to Noble and picked him up, petting his head.

"It's okay Noble, I'm not mad. You didn't know," I told him to ease him up a little.

'_Ral?'_ Noble looked up at me, expecting. What, I didn't know. I mean, I don't speak pokemon! I don't know what the hell he just said, so I did the simplest thing: I nodded at him. He didn't make any objections, so maybe I made a good choice. I heard a knock on the door and frowned. Maybe Rick was up early…

I walked towards the door and opened it. And guess what? Rick was standing there with a grin on his face(His hair wasn't a mess, so I guess he combed it before going out of his room). Which brings us back to the matter at hand, Rick was grinning. Okay, usually, Rick was smiling or poker-facing, and he always grinned when he was really, r_eally,_ happy. Or at least, that's what I could tell from the time I have been with him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked him bluntly.

"Aren't you going to get your first badge today?" I nodded at his question, not knowing what he was going about, and he continued. "Well, Today you become an official pokemon trainer!"

"I thought I was an official trainer when they gave me my ID?" Rick just continued to smile (thank god, his grin was starting to creep me out).

"I mean a _real_ trainer! The ones that go for the badges and the Elite Four and the Championship." I thought that we were all trainers, even the coordinators. But it seems like only those that go for the real challenge are considered _real_ trainers. That's…very stupid.

"What's that?" I heard Rick ask, snapping me out of my thoughts. I followed his gaze and saw the baby trapinch cling up to me. I crouched down and picked it up, since it was still a baby, it was fairly small.

'_Tra! Trapinch!_' It cried happily. I came to understand that it liked high places.

"This is my egg. Wait, _was._ It hatched and it turned out to be a trapinch." Rick looked at my baby with curiosity and tried to pet it. Unfortunately, Rick didn't have the epic reflexes that I had and got bitten by my newest team member. Rick let out a yelp and tried to pry my trapinch's jaws off of his hand, with no avail. I could see some tears in his eyes! It was hilarious! But I fought with the hilariousness and stayed serious. I gave my trapinch _the_ look: Disobey me and I bite your legs. It looked at me warily, before opening its mouth slowly, letting go of Rick's hand.

Rick quickly retracted his hand, rubbing it, and gave me a disbelieving look.

"How did you do that?" I allowed myself to smirk and patted my trapinch's head.

"Telepathy."

'_Trapinch.' _My trapinch seemed to agree with me, much to Rick's disbelief. And I swear I heard Noble scoff somewhere back in my room, but I decided to ignore it for his sake.

"A-Anyways, let's get something to eat," said Rick, avoiding my comment. "I think I'm starving!" I simply nodded, knowing that today was going to be a tough day. I went back in to retrieve my magikarp and my ralts, returning them to their respective pokeballs. I took out my pokeballs and stared at them for a second. An Ultra ball, a Dusk ball, a Luxury ball and some pokeballs…

"What's wrong Ariann?" I turned towards Rick and gave him a blunt look.

"I have to catch my trapinch first. If I don't do so, someone may steal it," I told him. He looked at the pokeballs and gave me the Luxury ball. I raised a brow at his choice, but he just shrugged.

"You never know. Just to make it friendly. You never know if it'll try to bite you."

"But it won't bite _me_," I told him. Then I looked down at the baby in my arms and asked, "You wont bite me right?" It just stared at me and said,

'_Tra.'_

I glared at it silently and tapped the Luxury ball to its head, muttering "_Stay still."_ The black pokeball moved a little and then went still. I released my pokemon again, and carried it in my arms. With a nod to Rick, we headed down towards the cafeteria of the pokemon center.

/line/

I was starting to grow annoyed at the stares.

I mean, while I was trying to eat, some people were staring rudely at me and my baby trapinch! And it was starting to piss me off.

And it all started because of a stupid-beautiful-eyed black-haired boy!

_Ariann walked inside the cafeteria, and realized that it was slightly crowded with both people and pokemon. She ignored them all in favor to get to the food aisle, but a gasp and a shout stopped her in her tracks._

"_Hey you!" She froze, but then relaxed. It was very possible that they weren't calling to her. After all, the cafeteria was very crowded. "Hey! The one with the trapinch!" Okay, so maybe they were calling out to her…She turned slowly, Rick looking back at his traveling companion with a frown. He didn't know why, but the girl was, somehow, a magnet for trouble. But she was very good with pokemon, even though she was a little too hard on them (or maybe he was just too soft?)._

"_What is it?" Did he mention that she was also too serious and (sometimes) rude for her own good?_

"_Where did you get that pokemon?"The teen asked Ariann. Her eyes narrowed at the question, and she decided to take in the appearance of the older male. He was still a teenager, probably a year or two older than Ariann, he was tall, taller than most of the teenagers at his age and had black hair. But the most amazing feature of the boy were his eyes…_

_They were of a deep blue color. As in, not pale blue or green-blue, __**blue**__ blue. And they were beautiful. So easy to lose one's self into them. She didn't notice she was staring until Rick cleared his throat._

"_Ah, From a breeder," she told the boy. All the people around were now staring at the group curiously, waiting for a fight to break out. _

"_Man, I wanted one…" he seemed to mutter under his breath something along the lines of 'Not bringing…' and 'Forgetting…calling Escorp…'. She was about to turn when the boy suddenly looked at her with a determined face. _

"_Wanna trade?" The raven asked her, straight forward._

"_What? No!" She was actually a little annoyed at the nerve of the black-haired boy. How dare he say that to her?! After she carried the egg all over route 203 to Oreburgh! Nu-uh, not happening boy._

"_Come on, I can get any pokemon you want!" He probably was exaggerating, she noted, but instantly an Absol flashed into her mind. She couldn't, wouldn't, change her baby pokemon. Even if it was a very tempting offer…The pokemon wouldn't mind right? It still didn't have a name…_

'_Pinch?' The blonde girl looked down at her new pokemon and smiled slightly. No, she wouldn't change this pokemon…it was her baby, hers to train, her to rise. Not another's. Only hers._

"_Sorry, I'm not interested." Rick almost cried when she told the other boy that. After all, it was still a baby. Not that he would change the pokemon if it were his…okay, maybe he would._

"_But!-"_

"_Not interested," She repeated, without rising her voice, but more forcefully. She gave him a cocky glare and proclaimed, "I'm sorry, but Hope is mine." The blue-eyed boy gave her a look and so did I…Didn't she know…? _

"_B-But it's a girl!" She froze for a second, and then looked at the trapinch in her arms. She swears she thought the trapinch was a boy with that attitude it had…But…It'll work out…She hopes._

_The black haired boy gave a resigned sigh and left the duo alone. With the stared of the rest of the people at the Center…_

Anyways, back to the point at hand.

Everyone was staring at me for not knowing the gender of my own pokemon. But, hey, it wasn't as if they _knew. _They probably just asked the nurse at the Center to tell them!

I huffed and gave Hope(who I quickly noticed was an eat-it-all) a piece of my pancake.

"Why did you name her Hope? You could have named her…Destroyer? Or something that had to do with food!" Rick was right beside me with Chim at his side, munching at some of Rick's pancakes without his noticing.

"Well, that's because she _is _my Hope," I told him bluntly. He frowned but didn't press my answer any further.

Yes, she was my hope. My hope to defeat the gym leader of Oreburgh city…

…

Later that day, I will learn that Hope wouldn't be able to fight due to her newborn-ed status…

Well, life sucks.


End file.
